Michael Ryan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>Very common - in the wild - they rarely stay in the same chamber (tunnels)
>and all ways dig out new ones, thus making it harder for predators to find
>them. In a cage, they move around a lot as part of instinct.
Most gerbil species seem to spend a lot of time digging and changing
their environment.
The Indian Desert Gerbil, Meriones hurrianae, a gerbil similar to the
Mongolian Gerbil that lives in the Deserts of Northern India and
Pakistan is thought to be responsible for moving 61,500kg of soil per
square kilometre, per day during the summer months [1]. One effect of
this is to help desiccate the soil by moving moist earth from deep in
their burrows to the surface where the sun and the winds dry it out.
This can be important for gerbils survival. If the desert becomes less
arid numbers of predators, but also competing species less well adapted
to the desert environment, will increase. In other words, gerbils, and
other burrowing desert species help to create an environment that whilst
demanding for them, is even more demanding for competing species.
[1] RODENTS OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE IN INDIA, Barnett S A, and Prakash I,
Arnold - Heineman, 1975
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
